Within a memory
by Little Miss Defensive
Summary: Harry helps Teddy learn about his parents. From Teddy's POV. :  RLNT.
1. The Penseive

I stood outside my godfather's room, the little vials safely stashed in my pocket. I slowly lifted my trembling hand to his door, and knocked lightly.

"Come in," I heard him call out. I took a deep breath to calm myself, and opened the door.

"Hello Ted," Harry smiled and waved me over to the chair behind his desk. Harry's house had so many rooms (sometimes I got lost) but this room was 'Harry's room,' and the walls were lined with bookshelves, and a large desk sat by the only window, a large one looking out onto the forest beyond.

"Hi Harry," I walked on shaky legs to the chair Harry had pointed at, and sat down.

"How are you?" I found it hard to look him in the face; I was terrified to bring up the subject, the subject of my parents.

"I-" a photo of my mum and dad caught my eye, it was framed and resting on Harry's desk, and their smiling faces gave me a sudden burst of courage. I pulled the vials out of my pocket and rested them on the desk. "What are these? They were my dad's." I asked; looking at him in question, proving to him I meant no harm in asking, I just needed to know.

"Oh Teddy..." Harry leant forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Stop looking so scared, you _are_ allowed to talk about your parents."

"Gran... she gets upset. I don't talk about them." Harry let go my shoulder and leaned back looking at me thoughtfully.

"I see," he nodded, and picked up one of the vials. "These are memories, Teddy." He held it up to the light and stared into the swirling pearly coloured fluid inside the vial. "I imagine your parents left these for you. Maybe knowing that..." Harry broke off, and a pained look crossed his face.

"I know how they died." I said with as much confidence as I could. "They died to save the world from Lord Voldemort." Harry tilted his head to the side.

"Once upon a time, his name was not mentioned." Harry answered. "He was known as you-know-who." He chuckled. I frowned at this. Was I not supposed to say his name? "It's good, that his name is no longer feared." Harry reassured me, obviously seeing the worried look on my face.

"If they're memories... and they left them for me... can I see them? Do I drink it?" Harry smiled at this.

"No, you use something called a Penseive." He stood, and placed the vial he had picked up back on the desk next to the other two vials. "And... you're in luck. I happen to have Albus Dumbledore's old Penseive with me at the moment."

"Oh," I felt apprehensive now. Memories, Penseive, how would these work? Harry strode across the room, and waved his wand at one of the smaller bookcases, it slid to the side like a door and behind it was a kind of cupboard. A big concrete bowl with ornate carvings around the edge came into view. I twisted in my chair for a better look.

"I'll bring it to you." Harry told me. He waved his wand and the strange bowl floated through the air and landed on the table. "Now, I'll explain to you what happens as it can be frightening the first time. I remember my first time in a Penseive..." He looked over my shoulder at something behind me, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. "So what I will do is pour the memory into the Penseive." He pointed to what I had thought was a large bowl. "And then one at a time we place our face into the liquid in the Penseive and you will feel like you're falling for a moment. And then you will find yourself in a memory."

"Will I get wet? Gran is coming to pick me up after lunch she won't want me to get wet."

"Nope, you'll stay dry." Harry smiled kindly at me, despite my ignorance. "You need to know Teddy..." He brushed my hair from my face in a fatherly gesture. "That these are memories. You can't talk to the people in them, they won't know you're there and they can't feel your touch either." He smiled sadly at me this time. "However much we want them to be real, to be alive... They're not." I looked up at him, understanding he didn't want me to get false hope.

"Will I see my parents?"

"I assume so. I assume that is why Lupin left these in your possession." Hearing my father's name sounded strange, but really good. Not many people talked about my parents, not to me anyway. I knew they were well loved though.

I stepped forward, and did as instructed...

We fell into the Penseive head first and tumbled through swirling colours until finally landing on our feet in my grandma's house. It was a little different though, we had landed in my mum's room and there was no dust. When I peek into her room these days, there is a layer of dust over everything.

"Alright Ted?" Harry asked. I looked at him and then around the room again, this time I spotted a man. My dad was sitting on the window seat looking out into the garden. Before I could approach him the bedroom door opened and I moved out of the way as my mum walked in. She didn't see me, and she walked over to my dad running her fingers through his hair and kissing him on the cheek. I reached forward to touch her, but Harry placed a gentle hand on my arm. "You can't touch her, remember? This is a memory." My heart lurched painfully. I wanted them to be alive, to be real.

"_Hello dear,"_ his dad said, and my mum sat down next to him. "_How is your mum?"_

"_I..." _my mum rubbed her eyes, and I noticed they were red and puffy as if she'd been crying. _"She's as expected. I still can't get her to eat. She misses dad..." _She trailed off, and my dad rested his hand on her shoulder.

"_This may not be the best time sweetheart... But I've been thinking..."_ He took one of my mum's hands in his. "_I think we should store some memories for our son. What if..." _He trailed off momentarily. "_What if one or even both of us die in this war...?"_ A pained expression crossed his face, and I moved further around the room to see my mum's face. Tears were beginning to trail down her cheeks.

"_I will do everything in my power to keep us alive." _My mum said. She brought her free hand down to rest on her slightly rounded belly. She looked up into my dad's eyes. "_But I agree. We should do it. Just in case..."_

TBC


	2. Hogwarts Express

**Authors Note**: Please let me know what you think. I feel a little strange writing a Harry Potter fanfiction from Teddy's POV. I hope it's okay, and believable. :)

**Previously...**

"_This may not be the best time sweetheart... But I've been thinking..."_ He took one of Teddy's mum's hands in his. "_I think we should store some memories for our son. What if..." _He trailed off momentarily. "_What if one or even both of us die in this war...?"_ A pained expression crossed his face, and I moved further around the room to see my mum's face. Tears were beginning to trail down her cheeks.

"_I will do everything in my power to keep us alive." _Tonks said. She brought her free hand down to rest on her slightly rounded belly. She looked up into my dad's eyes. "_But I agree. We should do it. Just in case..."_

...

My parents faded from view, and I found myself at Kings Cross station. There were so many people bustling around I found it hard to pick anyone out of the crowd, but Harry nudged me after a moment and pointed at a small boy with sandy brown hair dragging a heavy looking trunk towards the barrier between platform 9 and 10. When we moved closer, I recognised my dad. He was only young though, maybe a little older than me.

"This must be his first year at Hogwarts," Harry said, I looked up at him and found him smiling. "He must be nervous. He was lucky to get in. Dumbledore made an exception. Werewolves were – if possible – even more feared and hated back then." Harry told him knowledgably.

"Why is he all alone?" I asked, worried as my dad reached the barrier. We followed him through and a large scarlet steam engine came into view. "Wow..." I said forgetting the question I had just asked. Young witches and wizards filled the platform, owls hooted dolefully, and cats meowed, and he even heard a few toads croaking too. I watched my father nervously standing to the side. I yearned to reach out and touch my father, to reassure him. But I knew it was pointless, Harry said this was a memory so my dad would never know I was here.

"It's beautiful isn't it..." Harry looked towards the train with a look of someone reminiscing. A boy with long-ish black hair approached my dad.

"_I'm Sirius,"_ the boy held out his hand, and my dad shook it with a shy smile on his face.

"_Remus Lupin,"_ He answered. I moved closer to the two boys as it was beginning to be hard to hear with all the noise around them.

"_Is it your first time at Hogwarts?"_ Sirius asked, looking around. Without waiting for Teddy's dad to answer, he spoke again. _"I bet it is; it's my first time too. Should we get on the train then?"_ I nearly laughed aloud at the look on my dads face; I was feeling about the same way I assumed my dad was feeling. This confident boy just befriended my dad with just a few words, and now behaved like they had been friends for a long time. _Strange!_

"_Uh, sure..."_ His father answered uncertainly. Harry held my arm gently holding me back from boarding the train too as we watched my dad board the train with Sirius. It was weird to think that both boys in this memory had passed away now.

The train faded from view and the noise slowly disappeared and now we were standing outside platform 9 ¾ once more. I felt disorientated for a moment, I thought at first the memory was starting over again... I looked around though and found the platforms a little less crowded than before, and this time a small girl was pushing a trolley rather fast and not very straight towards the platform.

"_I just can't wait mummy! I can't wait to be able to use magic. It's going to be great!"_ The older woman grabbed the trolley from the girl and straightened it so that it wasn't at risk of bumping into passersby. The girl who had long brown hair held with ribbons in piggy tails seemed to be over-enthusiastic and unable to keep control of herself _or _the trolley as she half skipped half ran for the barrier between platform 9 and 10. It was as they got through the platform that I recognised who I was looking at. I recognised a young version of my grandmother first, and my hand rose to my mouth in surprise. She was rather beautiful, a regal looking woman with dark brown hair and dark eyes. The little girl looked at something behind Harry and I and I saw a young version of my mother. It had taken me a while to recognise her as I'd never seen her with such plain looking hair. In all the photos her hair was purple, or pink or bright red... Always crazy colours.

"_Now don't go changing your hair every five minutes Nymphadora."_ My grandmother told my mum. _"Don't show off your abilities, okay? Just keep your hair like this."_ She ran her fingers through one of his mum's piggy tails. _"Just be good. Okay?"_

"_I will mum!"_ My mum was bouncing on her toes now trying to take in everything at once. I smiled at her enthusiasm, and felt for the first time since I had entered my parent's memories tears beginning to form in my eyes. I wanted to _know_ my parents; I wanted to meet this enthusiastic, happy mother of mine. "_I need to get on the train now."_ I wasn't sure if my grandmother had noticed, but I could see the tips of his mum's piggy tails beginning to lighten and turn pink. A tear slid down my face, but I found myself smiling all the same. Harry crouched next to me, and put his arm around my shoulders comfortingly. We watched as my child-mother clambered onto the train, tripping and landed on her knees on the first step. She turned around and waved at her mother. "_Bye, I'll send you an owl when I get there!"_ She called, and disappeared. The memory began fading once more.

"Let's take a break Teddy," Harry said tugging on my arm as the next memory began forming. We arrived back in Harry's room and I felt a little dizzy at first. "Are you okay? Here." He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a bar of honeydukes chocolate.

"Thanks,"

"I'll go and get us some tea." Harry left, and I ate the chocolate. Harry told me once that my dad had told him how helpful chocolate was when feeling emotional. I always keep a stash of chocolate with me now, and it seems Harry does too. It felt strange to think I had just seen my parents leaving for their first year at Hogwarts. In a month's time I would be doing the same thing. Harry returned with two mugs of steaming tea and I gratefully wrapped my hands around the mug.

"My parents were so different from each other," I said.

"They sure were." Harry smiled. "But they loved each other, and they certainly loved you." I contemplated his words, but something kept bothering me.

"If they loved me, why did they both leave? Why did they both have to die?" I looked up at Harry anxiously. I hoped he wouldn't think I was being selfish.

"I don't know..." Harry said sadly. "I don't know why it is they both died, it's not fair on you... But you have a better life thanks to them. If Voldemort was still alive you wouldn't even be going to Hogwarts next month. You would be in hiding." He sighed. "I do understand though Teddy... I really do. And I know how badly you wish you could know your parents. But it's best not to dwell on it. I have been where you are now." He sighed again. "I'm sorry you have to feel the way you do, but things _will_ get better." I smiled at him. It was true, out of everyone I know, Harry was the one who would truly understand me. He was the only one who had grown up parentless, also losing his parents to Voldemort.

"I understand, and I'm proud to be my parent's son." I said quietly. "And I'm proud to have you as my godfather." I felt a blush rise to my cheeks at my emotional confession.

"Thanks Ted, I'm proud to be your godfather." He grinned. "Now, we can continue going through these memories today, or we can do it another day. I know it can be emotionally exhausting."

"I think that I would like to continue..." I swallowed the last mouthful of my tea and placed the empty cup on the desk next to us. I attempted to calm my nerves, wondering what kind of memories I would be seeing next...

**TBC.**


End file.
